Friday, 23 May 2014

The latest dire warnings from the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change again conclude that if the world is going to avoid meltdown then we need to move to renewable energy sources pretty sharpish.

Here in the UK, with less than 5% of our energy needs met by renewables, we’re still a long way from the official target of producing even 15% of our energy from renewable sources by 2020. The good news is that there’s an increasing number of reports, roadmaps and studies which all share the vision that the UK can obtain the majority of its energy from renewables.

WWF-UK, for example, concludes that by 2030 up to 90% of our electricity could come from a combination of solar, tidal, wind and other sustainable sources, with the rest supplied via an international supergrid and gas power stations.

It’s not just the UK that could look forward to a low-carbon future; Europe could meet at least 80% of its energy needs from renewables by 2050 without paying more for electricity than it would under the current fossil-fuel based infrastructure, according to the European Climate Foundation. But just how realistic are these targets and, crucially, will they ever attract the support of both government and industry?

“These goals are most definitely achievable,” concludes Paul Ekins, a member of the energy systems team at the UK Energy Research Centre. “The technologies are there, and enough of them have already been rolled out at scale in different countries for us to be clear that they work and that they can generate the power that we need.”

Alistair Cameron, renewable energy campaigner at Friends Of the Earth, agrees: “We can definitely do this. We’re on the verge of a massive technological transformation in the renewable energy sector, and the costs of solar and other renewable technologies are already rapidly falling.”

Despite the positive attitudes, a voice of caution comes from an unexpected corner. “Although future scoping is helpful for showing what’s technically possible,” says Nina Skorupska, chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association, the trade body for the UK’s renewables industry, “100% renewables by 2050 is not something we are calling for. Expanding renewable energy is very important, but calling for too much, too soon, when governments have so many other priorities, will not get you very far. The key thing is to keep the momentum going and the industry growing.”

Need to ring your energy provider? Then be prepared to wait, as it’s more likely to answer the phone quickly if you’re a sales call, a Which? investigation has discovered.

Which? made 384 calls to 16 different energy suppliers’ customer service and sales numbers at set times of the day in April 2014, and each time recorded how long it took to get through to a human being.

They found that 11 out of the 16 suppliers answered sales calls faster than customer service calls, and existing customers were left to wait up to 13 times longer than those enquiring about joining as a new customer with Npower and Scottish Power were among the worst.

The graphic below shows the average call wait times for both customer service and sales, for each of the 16 suppliers we called. 11 out of the 16 energy suppliers answered sales calls faster than customer service calls.

Billionaire Elon Musk has become embroiled in a row with British green energy company Ecotricity, which has accused his electric cars firm Tesla of “old-world” business dealings and a “smash-and-grab raid” on its intellectual property.Ecotricity, which has built an Electric Highway network of electric car charging posts, claims Tesla used commercially sensitive information on installing charging stations to bypass Ecotricity and approach landlords to create its own network.Tesla has a raft of highways in the US dotted with electric car charging stations which can power a car for 150 miles of driving.Tesla opened its first UK dealership in Westfield London in October and is set to deliver orders for its new Model-S electric cars. Ecotricity showed Tesla “the best locations, introduced them to our landlords and partners and started building the first two chargers for them,” founder Dale Vince said.Vince claimed he then received a “shocking and brutal” email from Tesla setting out plans for its own charging network. He said: “This is nothing more than an attempted smash and grab raid.”

Four fifths (81%) of small firms think energy suppliers don’t care about their needs, according to a new poll by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

The results suggest businesses are sceptical of energy providers’ fairness in energy contracts.

The survey of more than 1,400 FSB members comes after Big Six suppliers pledged to essentially scrap the controversial practice of auto-rollovers.

This is when suppliers put firms onto a new, often more expensive, tariff when their contract runs out.

Now it seems businesses are struggling with other parts of their energy contracts.

One third (36%) in the survey say they found it difficult to switch energy supplier, pointing to unclear notice periods, complex contract terms and the speed of the switching process.

John Allan, FSB National Chairman said: “It’s clear from our research that many small businesses don’t trust the big energy suppliers to deliver a smarter, fairer and more transparent billing process.”

Scottish Power has been fined a symbolic £1 for charging lower prices to customers who paid by direct debit.

The Spanish-owned energy group, which supplies 3.2 million households in Britain, also agreed to pay £750,000 to Energy Best Deal, a public awareness campaign backed by Citizens Advice, as part of the settlement with Ofgem, its regulator.

Under Ofgem rules, suppliers must be able to justify charging customers different prices according to how they pay.

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Whilst the UK’s status as an energy importer rather than exporter is no secret, a new study by researchers warns that what little remaining fossil fuels Britain does have at its disposal will likely run out in a little over five years.The report from the Global Sustainability Institute says that Britain has just 5.2 years of oil, 4.5 years of coal and three years of its own gas remaining, and should form part of a Europe-wide drive towards renewable energy.

Scottish Power has agreed to pay £750,000 following an Ofgem investigation into price differences between its standard credit and direct debit tariffs.The investigation found that between September 2009 and December 2012 Scottish Power did not have a robust process to assess the cost of different payment types and set prices accordingly.Under Ofgem rules, suppliers can only have different prices for different payment methods if the amount reflects the costs involved in supplying those accounts.These rules are designed to protect consumers and take into account that some payment methods are more expensive to administer than others.Scottish Power will pay the £750,000 to the Energy Best Deal campaign run by Citizens Advice which helps consumers with their energy accounts.Ofgem said the size of the penalty reflected the scale of the breach and took into account Scottish Power’s willingness to accept its failings and make payments that benefited consumers.

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

The public are being asked to vote which technology idea deserves a jackpot of £10 million to solve “one of the greatest issues of our time”.

Creating aeroplanes capable of short-haul flights from London to Edinburgh that are zero carbon is one of six issues jockeying to win the Longitude Prize 2014.

Others are access to safe and clean water for all; stopping the rise of resistance to antibiotics; helping people with dementia live independently for longer; nutritious and sustainable food; and helping people who are paralysed to move again.

The winning challenge will become the Longitude Prize 2014 and then it will be open to anyone to solve.

Voting begins at 10pm on Thursday after the episode of Horizon on BBC Two.

Monday, 19 May 2014

Clean energy, generated locally. Surplus energy sold back to the grid. Residents free to invest as little as £250, and promised an annual return of 5%. Further profits placed in a community benefit fund to pay for local facilities or energy saving technologies for local people in fuel poverty. Britain’s community renewable sector is tiny but it is growing. More than 40 community schemes currently offer just 66MW of installed capacity but there is another 200MW of community energy in development.When people first hear the business plan for REPOWERBalcombe, one of an increasing number of energy co-operatives, they tend to have one response: where’s the catch?”I don’t think there is one,” says Tom Parker, a gardener and renewables expert who is a member of the new Sussex co-operative. “People think it’s too good to be true or that a bunch of volunteers can’t run a business. I got told the other day, ‘You won’t be able to run this in your lunch hour’. I’ve recently spent my lunch hours reducing my children’s school’s energy by 50% so I don’t see why we can’t run a co-op with so many more helpers.”Few people have heard about community energy but REPOWERBalcombe may put this quietly growing grassroots movement on the map. The affluent village in the rolling Sussex weald is famed for last year’s anti-fracking protests that got residents thinking about energy production and inspired a public meeting last autumn. Fifty people turned up and REPOWERBalcombe was born. The possibility of fracking polarised opinions, and while prospecting company Cuadrilla has said it will not frack in Balcombe it has a new 30-year lease on its village site and is planning to continue its search for oil. It was recently given permission by West Sussex county council to test oil extraction on a site in the outskirts of Balcombe.

Security of the UK’s energy supply has become a defining issue for politicians, the business community and voters. That insecurity has been brought into sharp relief by the threat of increased gas prices from Russia, at a time when European renewable energy targets and a dysfunctional power supply pose their own challenges.

To better understand how some of these challenges can be met, the Guardian hosted a roundtable discussion at the Bristol Chamber of Commerce as part of the #bigenergydebate.

Bristol and the south-west leads the charge in the UK shift to renewable energy. So how has this been achieved? Merlin Hyman, chief executive of sustainability consultancy Regen SW, said co-operation had been crucial.

“I think we’ve worked together a bit better than other places. The south-west bioheat programme, for example, has been run by a broad partnership of people. The energy industry here involves other interested parties such as farmers, the tourism industry and households. The south-west now has twice the renewable heat installations of any other region, including Scotland, and the industry directly employs 10,000 people – something that has grown by 40% through the teeth of the recession.”

Hymen believes a key determinant of success has been grassroots support, describing community-based energy initiatives as “perhaps the most interesting trend” to emerge in recent years.

“They are saying ‘let’s have a different relationship between energy generation and local communities, where we have a stake in these developments’. It’s a small movement but expanding rapidly,” he said.

Paul Isbell, energy manager at Bristol city council, echoed the point. He cites Bristol’s decision in 2011 to create its own energy company, and the growth of similar initiatives around the country, as evidence of this.

“Right now we’re trying to develop our own district heating system” he said. “We have our own local authority, multi-utility company too. London is doing something similar, and Nottingham also. This model of ‘big six’ and big supplies – it’s not working.”

The experts gathered around the table agreed that government policy on energy wasn’t working, either. Several participants lamented the politicisation of such a crucial sector and the resulting uncertainty. Richard Bonner, partner at asset consultancy EC Harris, gave an example of the damage this is doing to the wider UK economy:

Public support for fracking for shale gas in the UK has fallen below 50% for the first time, new polling suggests.

Just 49.7% of people now say they think the controversial process should be allowed in the UK, marking the third fall in support since high-profile protests last summer in West Sussex which saw dozens of arrests including that of Green MP, Caroline Lucas and ongoing protests at a site in Salford.

Support for shale gas was at a high of 58% in July 2012, which slumped to 54% last September and 53.3% this January, the long-running survey by YouGov for the University of Nottingham shows.

Last week, the Tory peer Lord Howell, who is chancellor George Osborne’s father-in-law and who caused a furore last year when he said fracking should take place in the “desolate” north-east, warned that fracking could cost the Conservative party electorally.

Thursday, 15 May 2014

The price of natural gas on the UK’s NBP wholesale market is currently at three year lows with weak pricing levels to persist through the coming summer, due to still-healthy storage levels after an unusually mild winter.

In a report on the market outlook for this summer analysts at Reuters Point Carbon said this week that the UK gas market will remain bearish during the second half of May, June and at the end of July as consumption is forecast to be lower than supply.

Currently, UK gas prices for prompt delivery are almost 30% lower year-on-year, in line with lows not seen since October 2011.

The UK’s gas storage levels are in healthy shape for this time of year meaning there is less demand for gas to be used for storage injection, which will lower the market price for gas.

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Solar power and wind power are well-established forms of renewable energy; but how about solar wind power? A new prototype in the United States has just been green-lit and might well provide an exciting new way to produce energy in the future. One of the main qualms around many forms of renewable energy is the possibility of downtime; wind power supply being effected by still days, solar power’s limited output on grey winter days and tidal power not being as effective on still seasons in open water. The idea of a Solar Wind Power solution could aim to give a more consistent level of energy supply, without compromising on carbonisation or energy output, and tackles the problem in a previously-unheard of way.

Private and commercial energy customers have been promised a reduced switching time when changing energy companies by the end of the year. After a push from Energy & Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey, the UK’s energy companies will now offer a two-and-a-half week switching time when changing energy providers – half of the current standard of around five weeks.The move comes as part of a government push to make the energy sector more competitive. Following on from legislation on simplified tariffs and easier-to-understand billing, it’s hoped that by removing one of the factors that makes changing energy companies to difficult will remove some of the hassle attached to the process.

Wholesale electricity prices have fallen, which could lead to lower bills for consumers in the year ahead.Though the wholesale price for the first three months of this year was £54.33 per megawatt hour, up from £48.99 in 2013, for deliveries this summer it is lower at £47.73 against £49.32 in 2013, meaning bills could fall.The figures are from Energy UK, the industry trade body, which publishes them as part of its moves to make the energy market more transparent.

UK energy buyer Utilyx has called on the regulator to take even tougher measures than proposed to promote transparency surrounding the fees charged by the third party intermediaries TPIs in the retail energy market.

The renewable energy industry has labelled a controversial Abbott government review an “unprecedented scam” and a “stitch-up” after learning that it was conducting electricity industry modelling on the assumption there would be no risk or cost to investments in coal-fired power stations in the next few decades.

The review of the renewable energy target – headed by veteran businessman and self-professed climate sceptic Dick Warburton – and its modellers from ACIL Allen consulting held a workshop with industry participants on Wednesday at which they revealed the modelling would assume investors in fossil fuel generation would not need to factor in any risk due to climate policies for decades – neither a carbon price, nor a requirement to invest in emission-reducing technologies, nor any cost from any other government policy or regulation.

Many of the 50 participants said this assumption was entirely unrealistic.

John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian Solar Council, said it made the whole review a farce.

“This is an absolute stitch-up. They are predetermining the outcome of this modelling by the assumptions they are making … it is an unprecedented scam in policy-making and it needs to be called for what it is,” Grimes told Guardian Australia.

Guy Hands, one of the City’s most flamboyant deal-makers, warns on Monday that the Ukraine crisis has underlined the importance of the UK’s renewable energy sector, and attacks those wanting to phase out onshore wind subsidies.

The financier, who has close links to the Conservative party, says energy security cannot be achieved by markets alone and that the government needs to play a decisive role. “We should be grateful to President Putin for bringing energy security back to the top of the political agenda in Europe. But it is up to us to ensure we understand and act on the long-term threat. And that is certainly not by turning our backs on renewable energy, no matter how persistent or loud the voices against it,” Hands argues in an article on the Guardian website.

The intervention by Hands, who runs the Terra Firma private equity firm, comes at a time when instability in Crimea has been used as a major argument in favour of shale gas – most notably by a House of Lords committee last week.

Hands, whose best man at his wedding was the foreign secretary, William Hague, expresses astonishment that there has been speculation the Tory election manifesto could contain a commitment to end financial help for onshore wind, given it is the “most affordable” of all green power technologies.

Friday, 9 May 2014

Barack Obama will on Friday unveil several new initiatives intended to expand the deployment of solar power on Friday, as officials confirmed that a set of solar panels on the roof of the White House was now operational.

Obama will – once again – bypass a deadlocked Congress and use his executive authority to announce $2bn funding for energy-saving measures at federal government buildings, as well as new financing and training programmes for solar installations.

The announcements, to be made on a trip to California, cap a climate-focused week at the White House, following the release of an authoritative report on the growing threat posed by heat waves, severe downpours and sea-level rise.

White House officials told a conference call with reporters the initiatives were intended to add momentum to the solar industry, which has seen rapid expansion over the last two years.

“We are going to be doing everything we can, with the tools that we have to move forward,” said Dan Utech, special assistant to the president on energy and climate change.

In a largely symbolic move, the White House began installing a small set of solar panels on the roof last summer. The fit was now complete, officials said, releasing a video in which the panels were shown being installed. “The size of the array we established here is the typical size for the average American house, ” said James Doherty, the White House usher. Security concerns had prevented the whole roof being covered, he said.

Thursday, 8 May 2014

Can we harness the energy of an earth-bound sun? It’s a question that has obsessed and perplexed scientists for more than half a century. According to Professor Steve Cowley, director of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy CCFE and chief executive of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, it remains one of the “great quests” in science.For the uninitiated, it’s the kind of big idea that makes your head spin: we’re talking about mimicking the process that powers the stars, heating hydrogen atoms to temperatures in excess of 100 million degrees celsius – the point at which they fuse into heavier helium atoms – and releasing energy in the process.

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Power and gas prices continued to fall through April as result of warmer weather affecting demand. Below average demand combined with high LNG supplies to suppress power prices. But tensions in Ukraine underpinned the market, with a 9.1% surge in day-ahead gas in the middle of the month.Demand for gas hit an eight-month low of 185mcm on 24 April, 24% below demand levels a year earlier. In commodity markets, monthly average Brent crude oil edged up 0.3% to $108.1/bl with the threat of US sanctions on Russia prompting security of supply fears. These rises were slightly offset by news of US crude stocks reaching record highs.

New analysis of the renewable energy projects currently in development concludes that the UK has enough renewable energy in development to meet it’s European Union-set obligations.Parliament has been working with Brussels – as indeed have all EU member states – on ensuring that the country meets a number of ‘green’ goals by 2020, including recycling, decarbonisation and – of course – renewable energy.

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

The government must urgently establish a strategic authority to oversee the future growth of Britain’s ageing energy infrastructure, a study argues on Tuesday .

Academics at Newcastle University challenge the government’s market-based approach, saying the £100bn needed to secure energy security is not being delivered by a fragmented system that lacks central direction.

The academics, led by Prof Phil Taylor, argue that the country needs a “systems architect” and that energy, at least for the bulk of the population, is too cheap, which is leading to waste.

While the Labour party has already said it wants an energy security board, one leading figure in the industry has said that Taylor was highlighting that “nobody is in charge” of the country’s energy policy.

Before Tuesday’s launch of the university’s latest energy briefing note, Taylor, who leads its Institute for Research on Sustainability, said: “The current pricing model does not accurately reflect the high economic and environmental cost of generating, storing and distributing energy. In fact, because of the way energy is sold today, it becomes cheaper the more we use. This is unsustainable.

“Although we must make sure people can afford to heat their homes, for the majority of us energy is actually too cheap – this is why we leave lights on, keep appliances running and use machines at peak times when energy costs more.”

The research paper describes the energy system as fragmented and, while it does not mention the role of the National Grid, which looks after the pipes and pylons, makes clear there needs to be a new body above that, but below government, which can oversee planning and development.

It also wants the government to help find ways to store low carbon energy efficiently and effectively in times of high supply so it can be released during periods of high demand, or to keep the lights on after storms have damaged the power network.

Friday, 2 May 2014

Almost three-quarters (73%) of business leaders have no idea what their company spends on electricity, a new survey has revealed. The results are surprising considering that the ‘big six’ energy providers have recently hiked prices and hit headlines.

The study, from Westinghouse Solar, questioned 250 finance directors, chief financial officers, managing directors, chief executive officers and directors from small and medium-sized businesses. In addition to being unaware of energy costs, 60% of participants did not know how much their bill had increased over the last five years.

Whilst over seven in 10 respondents think the government should be doing more to encourage energy efficiency within the business community, only a quarter state that they make expenditure on energy a regular agenda item at the company’s management meetings.

Furthermore, despite rising costs and other financial pressures, more than half of those questioned has not considered a solar-powered energy scheme for their company. A further 23% have considered it but have not made contact with any providers. The findings suggest that whilst many businesses understand that solar can provide cheaper energy, they have failed to make the connection and relate it to their business.

The government recently set out plans to move the emphasis for solar growth in the market away from large solar farms and instead focus on commercial rooftops. The strategy adds that widespread solar can offer a better deal for energy customers and help the UK create a greener and cleaner energy mix.

James Carpenter, Westinghouse Solar director, said, “There are currently 250,000 hectares of south-facing commercial rooftop space available in England and Wales according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, with as little as 5-10% of that space being used for solar photovoltaic deployments, whilst in many European countries, Germany for example, that figure rises closer to 50%.”

Thursday, 1 May 2014

Subsidies paid to solar farms in the UK will come under review by ministers within weeks, Whitehall sources have told the Guardian.

There are around 200 solar photovoltaic farms around the UK, whose owners are paid thousands of pounds under the renewable obligation scheme. The payments are levied from household energy bills.

Solar farms have proven controversial in some individual cases, with a councillor in Devon likening them to concentration camps and comedian Griff Rhys Jones fighting a high-profile campaign against one outside Ipswich, but government polling shows it is one of the most popular energy technologies, with around 80% public support.

Payments are expected to be cut for the larger ground-mounted schemes that have been built on farmland, former airfields and other sites. “We don’t want the whole solar sector damaged by a few solar farms that communities don’t want,” a Whitehall source told the Guardian.

Greg Barker, the climate minister, was reported by the Daily Mail as wanting to cut the payments. Barker, announcing the government’s solar strategy earlier this month, told the Guardian: “I do not want solar farms to become the new onshore wind. I do not want to see unrestricted growth of solar farms in the British countryside.”